Tuesday 20 December, 2005

In Lettre International, Peter Nadas tracks down the last vestiges of Le Vernet concentration camp. In Kommune, Karol Sauerland investigates politics and everyman's corruption in Poland. Nepszabadsag reports on a brand new phenomenon in Hungary: women writers. Regis Debray and Marcel Gauchet argue in the Nouvel Obs whether a civil religion can exist at all. Die Weltwoche has located God in the temporal lobes. Harold Bloom presents America's literary figurehead in The Guardian. In Gazeta Wyborcza, Kinga Dunin analyses the significance of queer literature for Poland. And in the New York Times Magazine, Pankaj Mishra tells about the Tibetans who don't want enlightenment.
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Tuesday 13 December, 2005

In Al Ahram, Gamal Nkrumah accuses France of enriching itself at the expense of Africa. The New Yorker fears for the future of the New York Times. In Nouvel Obs, historian Marc Ferro refuses to let the French state dictate the morality of history. The Spectator listens in on the worries of super rich art collectors. Theatre director Piotr Tomaszuk defends his right to nail a bearded female Jesus to the cross in Gazeta Wyborcza. Peter György warns against Infotainment in Elet es Iroldalom. And in the TLS, George Steiner celebrates Karl Kraus. read more

Tuesday 6 December, 2005

Is Alain Finkielkraut an iconoclast? Or a neo-reac? According to the Nouvel Obs, his recent comments on the youth riots have hit a nerve. Al-Jazeera is fast becoming establishment writes the Spectator, and for the The Nation it is the very model of good journalism. Outlook India protests against the fatwa epidemic in India, with particular reference to tennis outfits. And Ozon asks if Volker Schlöndorff is really the man to tell the true story of Solidarnosc. read more

Tuesday 29 November, 2005

Wolfgang Kemp takes a poke at Unesco in this week's Merkur. Die Weltwoche pays a visit to Ilse Aichinger. Der Spiegel visits Giuliano Ferrara, publisher of Italy's most exciting newspaper. Outlook India covers the "Mama industry". Le Point is astonished at France's new iconoclasts and The New Republic writes on French anti-anti-Americanism. Elet es Irodalom warns against throwing out the baby of Islam with its radical bathwater.
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Tuesday 22 November, 2005

The New York Review of Books visits the radical religious school Madrassa Haqqania in Pakistan. Artist Rajeev Sethi remembers in Outlook India how Indira Gandhi told him how to get the best out of bad design. In L'Express, Caroline Fourest and Francois Burgat fight tooth and nail over Islamic feminism. In Revista de Libros, Rafael Gumucio bemoans the disastrous influence of Nabokov and Borges. In The Guardian, a group of authors speak out against Britain's planned blasphemy ban. In the Hungarian Heti Valaggazdasag, Janos Ladany warns of the consequences of poverty among the Roma. And Jonathan Lethem extols the delights of Italo Calvino in the New York Times.
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Tuesday 15 November, 2005

The magazines this week are full of the events in France. The Spectator sees an Islamic conspiracy behind the riots. By contrast, Die Weltwoche and Le Point see nothing but infantile self-destruction. For The New Yorker the American integration model is the most successful. Lawrence Lessig explains in Foreign Policy why he doesn't want Europeans in ICANN. Canadian Pianist Angela Hewitt tells in the TLS where the best grand pianos are had. The New York Times is against the National Book Award in particular and the award culture in general.
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Tuesday 8 November, 2005

In Der Spiegel, Hans Magnus Enzensberger considers the Islamic radicals to be the losers that the Nazis once were. Elet es Irodalom celebrates the Hungarian novel of the century: Peter Nadas' "Parallel Stories".The New Yorker asks if the CIA can legally kill its prisoners abroad. Polityka sees the results of the most recent presidential election in Poland as evidence that the country is still split along the border of 1918. Le Nouvel Observateur asks if France's failure to integrate immigrants relates to its unwillingness to confront its colonial history. Al Ahram reports that the religious authorities in Egypt have forbidden the publication of a book on Wahhabism. And, according to New York Times Magazine, Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" is the fruit fly of literary Darwinism.
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Tuesday 1 November, 2005

In Merkur, author Bernard Schlink looks at the shifting usage of the German word "Opfer". DU wanders through the hip city of Istanbul. In L'espresso, Andrzej Stasiuk poeticises on his bleak and bleary, beautiful and dreary homeland. The New York Times Magazine visits Nepalese Maoist rebels in flip-flop fighting boots. A battle rages in Plus-Minus over the future of the family. The TLS and The Economist investigate the now you see it now you don't British class system. In Elet es Irodalom, photographer Patrick Zachmann reflects on the ups and downs of Hungarian history - mostly on the downs. And the Nouvel Obs portrays the battle lines drawn around Michel Houellebecq's latest book.
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Tuesday 25 October, 2005

Prospect bemoans the decline of the theatre critic. In Reportajes, Mario Vargas Llosa praises cultural life in bankrupt Berlin. Umberto Eco explains in L'Espresso the difference between bullshit and balderdash. The New Yorker writes a portrait of architect Santiago Calatrava. Adam Zagajewski tells in Plus-Minus what life in Paris is like for a poet. In The Guardian, Ian McEwan looks forward to a new edition of Peter Schneider's "The Wall Jumper". Al-Ahram hopes the Nobel Prize for Harold Pinter will give Egyptian intellectuals more gumption. The Spectator looks at Russia's death throes. And in Le Point, Regis Debray sees nothing but pyschosis and perversion in theatre today. read more

Tuesday 18 October, 2005

In the New York Review of Books, Timothy Garton Ash admires Iranian women's bikinis. Le Monde diplomatique delves into the origins of language. In Plus-Minus, philosopher Wojciech Sadurski hopes for a United States of Europe. The Spectator hates the Blairpop of Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand and all such wimps. The London Review of Books reads in Andrew Bacevich how Americans love their military but refuse to serve in it. In Le Point, Mario Vargas Llosa wishes for a French Tony Blair.
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Tuesday 11 October, 2005

Lettre publishes excerpts from the essays of the seven finalists for the Lettre Ulysses Award. In Radar, the poet Silvina Ocampo explains how the song of the little ape is the most pleasing of all. Gazeta Wyborcza considers the relationship between Belarus and Europe. In Polityka, Dorota Maslowska describes her trip to Moscow. In Du magazine, Sybille Lewitscharoff considers the work of the devil in modernity. And Weltwoche offers a portrait of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
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Tuesday 4 October, 2005

In L'Express, Salman Rushdie explains why Indian left-wing intellectuals have branded him an Islamic separatist on the Kashmir issue. Holmi celebrates Janos Terey's drama "The Nibelung Subdivision". In the Guardian, playwright Tom Stoppard visits his colleagues in Belarus where a chasm opens between form and content. In Literaturen, Michael Frayn confesses his lazy reading habits. And the Economist hopes for a grand coalition on the scale of Kurt Kiesinger and Willy Brandt.
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Tuesday 27 September, 2005

Polytika announces the end of the Third Republic in Poland. In the Gazeta Wyborcza,Timothy Garton Ash wishes German president Horst Köhler would call new elections. Magyar Hirlap hopes the Germans will become worse off than they are - so they'll come back to the one-star camping grounds on the Plattensee. Prospect celebrates the statistical superiority of Anglo-American intellectuals in the world while The New Criterion finds British intellectuals somewhat mediocre. Outlook India learns about the role of the KGB in India. In Der Spiegel, Andre Glucksmann talks about hate. Reportajes explains what's special about poverty in the USA. Le Figaro honours Hannah Arendt and the New York Times fears democracy Turkish-style.
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Tuesday 20 September, 2005

In the New York Review of Books, Peter Galbraith calls the Iraq constitution the last chance for peace. In Espresso, Andrzej Stasiuk describes his holiday in Montenegrin Budva. The Spectator declares the UN to be corrupt beyond redemption. According to Gazeta Wyborcza, the Germans are too disobedient for Swedish-style reforms. Nepszabadsag sings praises of German politicians. Historian Karl Schlögel travels through the European archipelago for Le Monde diplomatique. In Le Point, Alain Finkielkraut takes on Hannah Arendt. The Figaro looks at a black book of psychoanalysis. The New York Times Magazine offers a portrait of the NGO Bono.
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Tuesday 13 September, 2005

The New York Times Magazine fears that the war on terror has strengthened al-Qaeda. The Spectator bemoans the Third-World conditions in the USA. L'Espresso reports on soldiers' blogs in Iraq. The Spiegel exposes the vision of the Left as reactionary. In the Gazeta Wyborcza, Adam Michnik takes a stand against the blinded masses. The Economist looks for Nobel Prize winners in German universities. In the Nouvel Obs, John Updike mourns the dying species of writers. The Guardian explains the difference between continental and British literature. And Outlook India sings the praises of film essayist Adoor Gopalakrishnan. read more